It's just gonna be DOS for now, because that's what I'm familiar with. (Plus I think it would be cool if it actually ran on DOS computers with an IPX network set up :p)

If I was going to do a modern version, I think I would choose enet for the networking, since it has a few more features than SDL_Net, but it doesn't require C++ or dictate how you should program your game.

I still can't log in to diehard wolfers, and I haven't been given a registration confirmation email, so i dunno what's up.

None of the guard types have "alert" sprites of any sort; all 8-directional guards have two separate "hurt" frames. The bosses have no "hurt" frames at all; you can only tell if they're hit if the Bleeding Enemies feature is active, or a digitized sound is played when your gun hits the enemy successfully.